More close ups - plus one for Markus

[Kev3]

Had the best part of a day trying to duplicate an apparent problem on one of the electron microscopes - so a chance for a few more pictures
Not hugely rigorous science here - just some pretties comparing timbers. Tried to get all 3 planes and if I got it right they should be in order as if looking at a quatersawn slab -
Transverse (end grain); Tangential (side edge); and Radial (top surface). Rather than a huge long line I've grouped them and they run clockwise from top left as Sitka Spruce, Queensland Maple, Indian Rosewood and Tas' Blackwood.

Transverse-end grain

transverse.jpg (53.81 KiB) Viewed 8236 times

Tangential- long edge

tangential.jpg (62.68 KiB) Viewed 8236 times

Radial (top)

radial.jpg (58.44 KiB) Viewed 8236 times

And one for Markus - earlier request for inter vessel pitting (close anyway).

Blackwood intervessel detail

intervessel.jpg (20.05 KiB) Viewed 8236 times

And the problem with the SEM ? A researcher complained he'd wasted a morning as his images were unusable. The SEM takes a minute or two to scan line by line down to progressively capture an image. Small portions of the lines were appearing as simply black (no data). Some of the images repeated this over and over again producing an overlay of staggered black vertical lines. Didn't happen if I was there to watch and I couldn't get it to do it on my own. When he came back, so did the problem. I'd checked everything on the machine that could be playing up, so that only left him ! Turned out he was using the time it takes to get an image to check his email, Facebook etc on his smart phone - and the #@$@! thing was interfering with the SEM's electronics - every black drop out on the image was another send/receive package of data
Couldnt get any of ours to do the same thing, so not sure I'd want that phone stuck up against my head

.....so... next time I won't roll my eyes when getting on a plane and they ask me to turn off any mobile devices in case they interfere with their sensitive electronics.

Cheers

[Nick]

And the problem with the SEM ? A researcher complained he'd wasted a morning as his images were unusable. The SEM takes a minute or two to scan line by line down to progressively capture an image. Small portions of the lines were appearing as simply black (no data). Some of the images repeated this over and over again producing an overlay of staggered black vertical lines. Didn't happen if I was there to watch and I couldn't get it to do it on my own. When he came back, so did the problem. I'd checked everything on the machine that could be playing up, so that only left him ! Turned out he was using the time it takes to get an image to check his email, Facebook etc on his smart phone - and the #@$@! thing was interfering with the SEM's electronics - every black drop out on the image was another send/receive package of data
Couldnt get any of ours to do the same thing, so not sure I'd want that phone stuck up against my head

.....so... next time I won't roll my eyes when getting on a plane and they ask me to turn off any mobile devices in case they interfere with their sensitive electronics.

Cheers

Had more than one instance of "user" error here in the Chemistry Department Kev. I really wonder just how much information the supervisors pass onto their students sometimes as most of the time I get called to look at a misbehaving instrument, it's the student hasn't done something correctly! One rather piece of antiquated kit requires winding a handle to slide a photographic plate from the magazine into the instrument (Thank gawd for CCD!) and pushing the previous one out into a receiving magazine. Complaint was "The handle has jammed" When asked what happened prior to the "handle Jamming", "Oh it got a bit stiff" "So did you stop winding when it first started?" "No, I just wound harder" Whole instrument had to be shut down, vented (was at a vacuum in the 10 to the minus 6 range) and the business end taken apart to get the 2 jammed plates out.

Nice pics, interesting the difference between cuts, looking at the Transverse slice I would have said that the Rosewood is really porous, looking at the size of that crater but looking at the Tangential slices it would appear that the Queensland Maple has more cross sectional porosity.

[Kev3]

... agreed Nick - most of the gear I look after are rather complicated and stupidly expensive "boxes that go ping" - yet the major hassles i have with students or researchers tend to be related more to a lack of common sense than anything else. Mind you, some are just plain stupid. I had one guy I spent 3 days trying to teach a particular technique to. Gave up in the end and had to contact his supervisor to say that for the first time in 20+ years I found it impossible and maybe I or one of his other students should do the work for him.

What I actually said was that I wouldn't leave him in charge of a light switch let alone a $1.5M instrument.
His reply ? Something along the lines of: "yeah, well, actually, I think he has brain damage"

No wonder the shed (+bar fridge) is a great refuge at the end of the day

[Tod Gilding]

Funny thing about common sense is that it's not all that common

[Kev3]

Ooops - EDIT

[quote="Kev3"] Rather than a huge long line I've grouped them and they run clockwise from top left as Sitka Spruce, Queensland Maple, Indian Rosewood and Tas' Blackwood.
/quote]

Got that wrong... I listed them left to right, so last two are mixed up. Should have read "clockwise from top left: Spruce, Maple, Blackwood and then Rosewood"

should have proof read and sent for peer review before posting

[Kim]

No wonder nobody trust science anymore... ...........

Great post Kev. I'm not sure what to do with the information but the images are really interesting to view all the same.

Thanks heaps for making the effort to share that which would normally hidden to us.

Cheers

Kim

[Kev3]

Hi Kim,
nothing really informative - just some fun at the micron scale - give you a chance to see just what some the surfaces you are trying to glue edge to edge and then pore seal etc look like at a bugs view of things.

To be really informative would need quite a few images to cover the variation at this scale - would end up a bigger book set than G&G's design/build

oh, and the other lesson ? - think twice about sticking powerful smart phones to ones head

Fun pic's though - amazing what nature does at such a minute scale

[charangohabsburg]

Thank you very much Kevin!

And one for Markus - earlier request for inter vessel pitting (close anyway).

That's an absolutely amazing picture!
It is not too often that in a luthierie-forum one can get this kind of pictures "on request", free of charge, just because someone else apparently also likes to have fun with the benefits of technology.

Oh, and do you really think I should turn off my cell phone during my next flight? (Actually, I only roast my brain cells with a mobile phone about twice per year)

happy_landing_2013_D70_6626.jpg (68.46 KiB) Viewed 8105 times

Cheers,